Mt Barnett Station, is, as the name suggests, a large working cattle station on the Gibb River Road. We were delayed in our arrival at the camp grounds by a muster operation which closed the road for about 90 minutes whilst helicopters buzzed overhead herding (with mixed success) the cattle over the road and into into holding yards ready for market. Although the wait was a bit annoying (as it meant we had to set up camp in the dark) it was fascinating chatting to the Aboriginal stockmen waiting for the cattle and watching the choppers swooping amongst the trees gave us a very good appreciation of the pilots' skill level - we almost felt like clapping when the cattle finally stampeded over the roadway.
At last, the cattle race across the road!
Typical Gibb River Roadway
Our campsite was "protected" by this huge Boab tree
Yep, it was swags on the ground again!
MANNING FALLS The walk to Manning Gorge and the Manning Gorge Falls starts from the campground. The beginning certainly is not hot, especially at 6:30am, because first you have to swim across the Manning River. (A nice touch: you can float all your stuff across in the provided styrofoam boxes.)
After that the walk is open and sunny, but the scenery is beautiful. You can't get lost, because the track is so well marked with hundreds of rock cairns and red disks and arrows and beer cans and all sorts of other markers strung into the trees.
The gorge itself is huge and you can easily spend hours exploring it. It has several pools to swim through and rocks to climb up and over. You can also climb to the top of the waterfall.
Although the wait was a bit annoying (as it meant we had to set up camp in the dark) it was fascinating chatting to the Aboriginal stockmen waiting for the cattle and watching the choppers swooping amongst the trees gave us a very good appreciation of the pilots' skill level - we almost felt like clapping when the cattle finally stampeded over the roadway.
The walk to Manning Gorge and the Manning Gorge Falls starts from the campground.
The beginning certainly is not hot, especially at 6:30am, because first you have to swim across the Manning River. (A nice touch: you can float all your stuff across in the provided styrofoam boxes.)
After that the walk is open and sunny, but the scenery is beautiful. You can't get lost, because the track is so well marked with hundreds of rock cairns and red disks and arrows and beer cans and all sorts of other markers strung into the trees.
The gorge itself is huge and you can easily spend hours exploring it. It has several pools to swim through and rocks to climb up and over. You can also climb to the top of the waterfall.